Narrow Road

Well, it has been quite a long time since I last posted anything. It's been a crazy last month of school. I have had a huge project to do, and lots of other homework. I have won an intramural soccer championship, and many other things. It has been awesome! The other day at devos, we watched a video by Paul Washer talking at a youth camp about the narrow way. It's an amazing video. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncEhCvrVgQ

He is talking about Matthew 7:13-14. Not only is there a narrow gate to get into Heaven, but also a narrow road. Saying a prayer and asking Jesus into your heart is not the way. You must live and walk on the narrow road so that you will get to the narrow gate. Each of us sins. There is no way around that, but living for Christ is not about being perfect. It's about trusting in the Lord to keep you on the straight path. Live for Him in your actions and your words.

In Christ,
Brian

Chris's death

Hey everyone,

Well this weekend was bitter sweet. On the one hand, it was Easter, and I was able to celebrate it with some great friends at Adam's house. Mary, Sarah, Adam and I went hot tubbing and hit some golf balls and did some other fun stuff. Christ is risen, and He lives in us and loves us. Then on the other hand, I heard that one of my teammates and my friends, Chris Freeman, committed suicide. This came as a huge shock. I have dealt with a few circumstances of death, but nothing like this. He was one of my friends, and he meant a lot to me. This made me think about all the great times I had with him, and also about what I could have done to help him. If only he had known that. I know that I shouldn't feel like it was my fault, but I can't help thinking that I could have done something more.

For every tear I cry for his death though, I look up to Heaven and see my Savior smiling at me. It's amazing to know that He loves us no matter what. And today, while I have been writing this post, the song "Hold my heart" by Tenth Avenue North came on. Here are the lyrics:

How long must I pray
Must I pray to You?
How long must I wait
Must I wait for you?
How long ‘til I see your face
See you shining through

I'M ON MY KNEES
BEGGING YOU TO NOTICE ME
I'M ON MY KNEES
FATHER, WILL YOU TURN TO ME

ONE TEAR IN THE DRIVING RAIN
ONE VOICE IN THE SEA OF PAIN
COULD THE MAKER OF THE STARS
HEAR THE SOUND OF MY BREAKING HEART
ONE LIFE, THAT'S ALL I AM
RIGHT NOW I CAN BARELY STAND
IF YOU'RE EVERYTHING YOU SAY YOU ARE
WOULD YOU COME CLOSE AND HOLD
MY HEART

I've been so afraid, afraid to close my eyes
So much can slip away before I say goodbye
But if there's no other way
I'm done asking why


I'M ON MY KNEES
BEGGING YOU TO TURN TO ME
I'M ON MY KNEES
FATHER, WILL YOU RUN TO ME

So many questions without answers
Your promises remain
I can't see but I'll take my chances
To hear you call my name
To hear you call my name

This song is right where I am. I broke down on Easter morning and just cried. It was really tough to know that I would never see Chris's smiling face again. But I do know that God is holding me. No matter how bad things get, I can always turn to Him! He is holding me right now, and that's all that's holding me. I can feel His loving hands around me, keeping me from falling down. It's amazing! I know that I can't waste this time. I know that I have to learn from this. I have learned that no matter what I do, I will do my best to get to know people and lead them to my Savior. Many people don't know Him personally, and I think that God can use me to bring them to Him. So that's what I'm gonna do. No matter what, I will live for the One who saved me and who holds me up now! He deserves my all and want to know Him even better than I do now.

Our Christ rose on the third day. He is alive inside of us today. Don't go with the flow; step out and make a difference in someone's life. Who knows, maybe one little word can lead them to Christ. So, don't forget Chris Freeman, but instead use his death to let God use you.

In Christ,

Brian

Prayer

As this new healthcare bill is put into practice there is one thing that I want to touch on. I don't care whether it's the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. I do know that abortion is wrong though. Killing innocent children is against God's will for us and for this country. This new bill will be supporting abortion and even make doctors practice it. In light of this, I would ask everyone to pray for our country. Pray for our leaders and their discernment. Whether you like or dislike our President and his decisions, he is our leader, and we need to pray for him and support him. Our country needs our prayers more than ever. So don't just sit around complaining about what's wrong with him or his practices, pray for guidance.

Prayer is a powerful thing. It can do miracles! I have seen it happen. So earnestly pray for God's hand in this time of need and this fragile time. Let us not be thrown into war about this where each side won't support the other. I may not agree with everything that is happening, but there is no reason to go start a war over it. The best thing to do is pray that God will be merciful and that He will lead us back to our roots.

So pray and pray hard.

In Christ,
Brian Haefliger

How he loves us

God doesn't just like us. He doesn't throw us aside when we disobey him. He is a father. He loves us unconditionally. The song "How He loves us" I think captures God's love as well as we can.

He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane,
I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of
His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.

Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so.
(x2)

Yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves.
(x2)

We are His portion and
He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption
by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns
violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way


He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
OH, how He loves
(x2)

Yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Whoa, how He loves us
Whoa, how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us
He loves us
He loves us
He loves.

He is jealous for us. He is jealous for you. He desires you to be with Him forever in eternity! How great is that?! We may bend and break in this world, but no matter what He loves us, and nothing else matters.
Psalm 56 says, "Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride. When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life. On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations. Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll - are they not in your record? Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise - in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can men do to me? I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life."

This world may tell you that it loves you, but it's only a snake, treacherous in all it does. Instead of trusting in the world to take care of you, trust in the One who loves you unconditionally. Trust in your everlasting Father because He will never let them harm you. He will let you walk in the light of life. He will lead you to safety and to Him. He is awesome!

John 5

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir" the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Sometimes in my life I am just loafing around in my sorrow. I think that nobody is there for me and that there is nothing that I can do. But this isn't the case. Jesus is always there for me. We just have to have enough faith to stand up and walk. Jesus calls each of us to do things that we don't know how to do. But He knows that if we just trust him and have faith, all things are possible. It's an awesome feeling. When we are doing what God wants us to do, everything just seems to go much better. We don't sweat the small stuff, but instead we look ahead to what is better. It's awesome. So the next time you are stuck somewhere, pick up your mat and walk. Trust that God will lead you where you need to be.

Brian
(poop is respectable)

John 1

I have been reading in John the past few days, and have been completely enthralled by the first few chapters. John talks a lot about John the Baptist and what his job is, but he also uses this to show us who God is, and what He is like. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it... He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. WE have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." This is up through verse 14. He later goes on to tell about Jesus' first disciples, starting in verse 35. "The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "look the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour... The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida... When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Now I don't presume to know what all of this means, but there are a few parts that stick out to me. He says that those who received Jesus and believed His name, he gave the right to become children of God, not born of natural descent but born of God. Born of God!! How amazing is that?!?! We can be born of God. That in itself is amazing. He says that there was nothing before God and that from Him all has been created. He then goes on to talk about what it means to have faith, and what this faith will do. These three disciples gave up everything to go with Jesus. All they had was their fishing and their families, yet they were willing to drop it all for Jesus. Are we willing to do that? I know I'm not most of the time. I don't give Him everything. They are a great example of having the faith of a child. Children have no care in the world, but they have faith that their parents will take care of them. We need to believe in what our God can do and is doing. We need to understand that through God we can do anything. We don't need anything else! 

Just think about this passage, and reflect about what God is doing in your life. It's amazing!

Titus 3

"Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." Titus 3:1-11 

This is what we should be doing. We are justified by grace alone, by Jesus Christ's sacrifice only! We used to be involved in pleasures of the flesh, but now that we are in Christ, we are to be lights to the rest of the world. 

What are you doing to be a light to the dark world? Just think about that for a while.  God loves us even though we are sinners. Why can't we do the same for others?